BAYONNE - A design contest for a conceptual gondola that would connect Staten Island commuters to Bayonne’s 8th Street Light Rail Station has been announced by the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation (SIEDC). Leitner-Poma,, the same company that manufacturers Bayonne’s wind turbine, submitted and won the contest for its gondola concept that would shuttle commuters from Elm Park over the Kill Van Kull in six minutes to catch a Hudson-Bergen Light Rail train. The project would build upon a proposed light rail system on Staten Island’s West Shore, reducing commute times for the island’s residents to 33 minutes from Staten Island to Manhattan.

“This is not your traditional transportation system,” said Steven Grillo, Frist Vice President of SIEDC. “It has plausibility but at this point it’s supposed to get people to think outside the box in terms of alternate modes of transportation.”

Grillo said the project would cost around $60 million, compared to an entire light rail system extending over the Bayonne Bridge, which would cost more than a $1billion. “It’s really a cost-effective way of moving people,” he said.

“We’re trying to be progressive and open people’s minds to different modes of transportation,” said Alex Porto, Vice President of Membership and Outreach for the SEIDC. “This is supposed to help give gondola transportation legitimacy.”

Other proposed routes were from Fort Wadsworth to 95th Street in Brooklyn, and St. George over the New York Harbor to lower Manhattan, which would have been the longest cable gondola in the world, but also would be significantly more expensive to build than the Elm Park-Bayonne concept. “Once you try to put a gondola extension in the water, things get extremely complicated,” said Grillo. “The Bayonne route is the most feasible … and would make the most sense.”